Impact of ultrasonic dispersion on the photocatalytic activity of titania aggregates

Hoai Nga Le , Babick F, Kuehn K, Minh Tan Nguyen , Stintz M, Cuniberti G (2015)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2015

Journal

Beilstein Journal of Nanotechnology Beilstein-Institut

Book Volume: 6

Pages Range: 2423-2430

Journal Issue: 1

DOI: 10.3762/bjnano.6.250

Abstract

The effectiveness of photocatalytic materials increases with the specific surface area, thus nanoscale photocatalyst particles are preferred. However, such nanomaterials are frequently found in an aggregated state, which may reduce the photocatalytic activity due to internal obscuration and the extended diffusion path of the molecules to be treated. This paper investigates the effect of aggregate size on the photocatalytic activity of pyrogenic titania (Aeroxide® P25, Evonik), which is widely used in fundamental photocatalysis research. Well-defined and reproducible aggregate sizes were achieved by ultrasonic dispersion. The photocatalytic activity was examined by the color removal of methylene blue (MB) with a laboratory-scale setup based on a plug flow reactor (PFR) and planar UV illumination. The process parameters such as flow regime, optical path length and UV intensity are welldefined and can be varied. Our results firstly show that a complete dispersion of the P25 aggregates is not practical. Secondly, the photocatalytic activity is not further increased beyond a certain degree of dispersion, which probably corresponds to a critical size for which UV irradiation can penetrate the aggregate without significant obscuration.

Involved external institutions

Technische Universität Dresden DE Germany (DE) Hanoi University of Science and Technology / Đại học Bách khoa Hà Nội VN Viet Nam (VN)

How to cite

APA:

Hoai Nga Le, ., Babick, F., Kuehn, K., Minh Tan Nguyen, ., Stintz, M., & Cuniberti, G. (2015). Impact of ultrasonic dispersion on the photocatalytic activity of titania aggregates. Beilstein Journal of Nanotechnology, 6(1), 2423-2430. https://doi.org/10.3762/bjnano.6.250

MLA:

Hoai Nga Le, , et al. "Impact of ultrasonic dispersion on the photocatalytic activity of titania aggregates." Beilstein Journal of Nanotechnology 6.1 (2015): 2423-2430.

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